


where the sky loves the sea

by spookyfoot



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Developing Relationship, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 09:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13164297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyfoot/pseuds/spookyfoot
Summary: Yuuri remembers Victor gliding through water with an unreal level of ease and then super imposes that memory over their contemporary reality—where Victor’s just broken the fourth dish in as many days. After spending a full five minutes turning the dial on the gas stove on and off—“Yuuri it’s magic!” “No, it’s combustion!”— Victor makes them breakfast. His specialty is scrambled eggs. No one has to know Victor originally meant to make an omelette. It’sfine.Then the eggs burned when Victor insisted on saving Yuuri from the shower. The day before it was the bathtub—which had elicited an expression of pure horror.(“How could anyone do that to water, Yuuri?”“With plumbing?” )_____Merman Victor adjusts to life above water. And discovers ice cream.





	where the sky loves the sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forochel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forochel/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11420298) by [aprilshydoeden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprilshydoeden/pseuds/aprilshydoeden), [forochel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forochel/pseuds/forochel). 



> this is set after the end of forochel's absolutely magical fic [The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Clothes On](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11420298/chapters/25584885) where i pestered her in the comments until she became my friend. 
> 
> title from "Tales of Brave Ulysses" by Cream

Yuuri remembers Victor gliding through water with an unreal level of ease and then super imposes that memory over contemporary reality where Victor’s just broken the fourth dish in as many days. After spending a full five minutes turning the dial on the gas stove on and off—“Yuuri it’s magic!” “No, it’s combustion”— Victor makes them breakfast. His specialty is scrambled eggs. No one has to know Victor originally meant to make an omelette. It’s _fine_. 

Then the eggs burned when Victor insisted on saving Yuuri from the shower. The day before it was the bathtub—which had elicited an expression of pure horror. 

(“How could anyone do that to water, Yuuri?” 

“With plumbing?” )

They grab two slices of milk bread on the way to the dig and when they arrive everyone pauses for their daily gawk at Yuuri’s ~~company~~ boyfriend. Chad almost dropped a pottery shard they had yet to catalogue. Thad _did_ drop his trowel. If it weren’t for Phichit’s excessive waving, Yuuri would have strongly considered an invasion of incredibly lifelike statues. Even with Phichit he’s still considering it. 

The comforting press of Victor’s palm against his jolts Yuuri back to reality. They weave through sections six, three, and twelve where _no one seems to be working._ Yuuri gives it up as a lost cause and they drive over to the finds laboratory. With blessed air conditioning. If stoves are magic, air conditioning is advanced sorcery. It was only because of some _incredibly personal_  persuasion methods that Yuuri prevented Victor from disassembling the air conditioner in a fit of curiosity. 

(As for Victor learning that sound travels differently on land than underwater, well, that's still a work in progress much to Yuuri’s undying embarrassment. Mizuno-san knows too much. Far too much.)

____________________________________

On his first day at the site Phichit introduced Victor to a new game: Katsuki Crush Monopoly. 

(If someone passes “Go” and actually collects $200 it’s probably because they used to be a merman.)

Victor’s still waiting on his papers from “Sakhalin” because Mila had only taken care of his birth certificate and passport, not a Doctorate Degree. He’s not technically employed, but he’s useful enough that Minako hasn’t made him leave. Yet. He's got his best sad seal eyes ready, just in case. 

“It’s not fair.” Mariko, a second year grad student grumbles in between squinting at pottery shards.

“A. Katsuki’s ass; B.his boyfriend’s ass; C. the fact that Katsuki has a boyfriend; or D. the general existence of a couple that catastrophically attractive?” Brad asks. 

“Option E, all of the above.” 

“Fair enough.” 

Victor tightens his grip on Yuuri’s hand. 

“Yuuri!” Minako rushes over, waving a piece of paper that neither of them can hope to read at that distance. 

“How do you think they feel about threesomes?” Mariko asks and Victor’s ready to tell her _exactly_ what he thinks about them when he feels Yuuri’s fingers tighten where they’re laced through his before pulling Victor away from what would have become the Dig Disaster of 2017, and towards the other end of the large hall. 

By the time the buzzing leaves his ears he’s missed the first part of the conversation. 

“...ancing lessons?” 

“I thought you two might enjoy it. You always stay in.” 

Of course they stay in. There’s a bed there. And a shower. But after their first and only disastrous attempt at shower sex, Victor hasn’t been able to convince Yuuri that practice does indeed make perfect. 

“Well—I mean—It’s—” Yuuri starts. And then stops, and then starts again. His tightens his grip on Victor’s hand, face flushed. 

“Oh I _love_ dancing,” Victor says, plucking the flyer from Minako’s hand and then scanning it with a smile. 

“I don’t think it’s the same as under—in Russia.” 

“Some things don’t require translation, Yuuri.” 

“Yes, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t one of them, _Vitya_.” 

And oh, Yuuri has him. He’s not playing fair—he knows what hearing that name does to Victor. 

“ _Yuuri_ ,” Victor gives Yuuri his best pout—the one that got Yuuri to agree to shower sex in the first place. “Please?” 

Yuuri’s face softens and he moves his thumb in small circles over the back of Victor’s hand. “Well. I guess… we could try. It wouldn’t hurt.” 

____________________________________

 

“Ow!” 

“Sorry! Sorry!” 

“We can only dance in _two_ dimensions here, Vitya.” Yuuri hisses, looking around to see if anyone is listening in. 

Victor fumbles with the steps on his colt-like legs. Every so often his underwater instincts take over once again, like his body refuses to understand that he’s on land now. While Victor’s devoured Yuuri’s pile of old issues _of the International Journal of Archaeology_ , and picked up several texts on thermodynamics from the library, his understanding of how human legs work frequently remains academic rather than practical. 

“But I want to dance with you in every dimension,” Victor says. He executes a perfect foot-ball-change before stumbling over nothing and collapsing against Yuuri’s side. 

Yuuri’s starting to suspect that either Victor’s human legs have made him unbelievably uncoordinated, or that he’s being manipulated. And if it’s the second, then, shamefully enough, it’s working. It's working really well. His face burns and he buries it into the side of Victor’s neck. 

“You’re such an embarrassing person sometimes.” 

“But I’m _your_ embarrassing person,” Victor coos and lifts Yuuri off the ground before whirling him around in his arms. And then he stumbles over _Yuuri’s_ legs, sending them sideways, perilously close to colliding with the floor. 

“I think, maybe, we should call it a night,” Yuuri says, after Victor puts him back on the ground. 

“Okay! But we’re coming back next week!” 

Yuuri sighs because he’s pretty sure they’ll be back next week. That is, unless he manages to get Victor interested in the underwater basket weaving class videos he’s bookmarked and they can spend the night in where shoes and pants are optional. 

He knows Victor will like that last part.

“Can we get ice cream?”  

____________________________________

They bring the cartons back home and set up camp.

Victor’s been incredibly excited to try “surface food,” and Yuuri hasn’t been able to deny Victor any of these new experiences. Tonight, ice cream. Hokkaido is famous for its milk and Yuuri's made sure to get a local brand. 

“This best thing I’ve ever tasted,” Victor had said, flushed and waving around the empty carton, “other than you, of course.” 

Yuuri had rubbed the back of his neck and laughed, before ducking in for a kiss. “High praise.” 

“It’s close, but you still win.” 

“I’d hope so, you abdicated for me.” 

“Oh, that wasn’t the hard part.” 

“What was the hard part, then?” 

“Saying goodbye. Every time.” 

“How do you just say things like that?”

There’s ice cream smudged on the tip of Yuuri’s nose. Victor kisses it off. 

“Just like that.” 

And then they discover that Victor’s lactose intolerant. 

____________________________________

“Yuuri, do you still love me?” Victor asks, balled in the corner of their bed. 

Yuuri rubs soothing circles over the small of Victor’s back, “of course I do.” Yuuri’s seen worse. Yuuri’s _been_ worse. 

“I can’t believe the ice cream betrayed me like this.” 

“Well, I guess, living underwater, the Vodyanoi didn’t develop the enzymes necessary to break down lactose.” _Though_ , Yuuri thinks, _being underwater_   _seemed to make squid heads on human bodies an evolutionary necessity_. 

“I bet Georgi has something that could help for this,” Victor moans, turning around to burrow into Yuuri’s chest and wait until his cramps subside. 

____________________________________

Yuuri’s not sure how Victor manages to summon Georgi to the surface in less than twelve hours.

“Magic,” Victor says, punctuating dazzling smile. “And a lot of bribery.” 

Yuuri remembers the Tsar’s question—“what have you given to the sea, a life for a life”—and decides he doesn’t want to know any details. 

He’s sure whatever literal witchcraft Georgi’s worked that keeps his eye makeup perfect when he _lives_  underwater probably required a similarly unpleasant exchange.

“I’d love to help, but there are some things even _my_ magic can’t do.”

“You can’t be serious!” 

“There are two unbreakable rules when it comes to magic: resurrection and lactose intolerance.”  

“There has to be a way! Have you ever tasted ice cream, Georgi? I’m desperate,” Victor’s eyes are wide and a little manic. “I’ll do anyth—”

“Thanks for your help Georgi, we’ll figure it out! Bye!” Yuuri says, dragging him away from the shoreline before Victor can offer up something he’s sure to regret. 

“Yuuri! Why are we leaving?” 

____________________________________

Victor pouts in the car on the way home. As usual, it looks cuter than it ought to have any right to. “I was so close.” 

“I’m pretty sure Georgi wouldn’t have a spell for a sugar he doesn’t even know exists.” Or didn’t before Victor dragged him to the shore. 

“Magic is adaptable! We would have figured it out.” 

Yuuri turns and pulls the car into a lot next to a twenty-four hour conbini. 

“I’ll be right back,” Yuuri says, kissing Victor’s cheek. If Victor comes in they’ll be in there at least an hour while Victor smells every body lotion and flips through every manga on the shelf. 

Yuuri’s in and back out in less than ten minutes, a bulging bag filled with ice cream and a couple small cardboard boxes. He hands one of the boxes to Victor first. 

“What is this?” 

“Lactase. Some humans are lactose intolerant too, so they take these before eating dairy to help them digest it.” 

Victor throws his arms around him, sending the box flying into the backseat. 

____________________________________

When Victor eats three cartons of ice cream by himself that night without any ill effects, he does an adorable goofy little dance at the foot of their bed, tripping over a stray pair of socks and onto Yuuri’s legs. Yuuri's  _absolutely certain of three facts_ : a) those socks weren't there a moment ago b) are definitely a new pair they bought for Victor and c) Victor's perpetual clumsiness is at least 50% strategically timed for maximum body contact. 

“Lactase is like magic!” Victor says, triumphant. 

“It’s just science, Victor,” Yuuri says, but he's smiling. 

“Well…then science is like magic!” 

And if science puts that perfect, magical, heart-shaped smile on Victor’s face, who is Yuuri to argue?

**Author's Note:**

> i'm [on tumblr](http://katsukiyuuristrophyhusband.tumblr.com) where i post a lot of cat pictures.


End file.
